Becoming an Olympic Equestrian Jumping Athlete

Hi! I am Pie Lafferty and thank you for joining us for this segment of show jumping demonstration. We would like to talk about how you make the pinnacle of the sport. I believe the very first thing you have to do is to be totally dedicated, totally dedicated to this sport. So, it's hard, hard work and you need to practice, practice, practice, find the best trainers you can find and the best horses. Then, definitely your partner is a big part of the sport. Hope for instance, in the Olympics for the stadium jumping, we only send four horses four people, one alternate. So, that is a very select view to make that big essences. The world cup is an indoor competition and the Olympics is an outdoor competition. It does take, a great deal of money, so you may need sponsorships. You have to think about that. You'll need your parents to back you. You'll need anyone; all types of backing; good grooms, good horse shows, good venues, international competition, that's numerous that things will take to get to that state of jumping. And so that I want to people who are breeding good horses today trying to make this type of jumpers and my husband and I right now are breeding little stallioners with that blood lines in the genes that will think are world cup potential, in Olympic potential, well that's whets happening in Europe and we are trying to do the same thing. It takes a lot of time from the day that's born to probably seven or eight years old before that horse is ready to go into that type of competition. Thank you for watching and good luck on your journey to whatever level you inspired to.


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